Tag Archives: personal

Hail to the kings of movie soundtracks

Posted on Thursday, 22. February 2024 by hmvh

Last Saturday I closed a loop that had started 40 years ago: I saw the movie Footloose. You ought to know that the movie as well its soundtrack were huge hits in 1984; the catchy title song, in particular, was all over the radio and TV. It was almost as big as Flashdance from the year before. Kenny may have been dubbed the “King of Movie Soundtracks” in the eighties but it was ultimately Giorgio Moroder and Harold Faltermeyer who were pulling the strings. Continue reading →

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The quality of slide scans

Posted on Tuesday, 5. December 2023 by hmvh

Photo slides had completely disappeared off my radar until early 2008 when my father brought them over — along with a slide scanner he couldn’t figure out how to operate. I knew that someday I would revisit them with my trusty old Epson Perfection 3490 Photo flatbed scanner. What follows are my thoughts and experiences on the matter. Brace for impact! Continue reading →

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Current status: Still sorting photos

Posted on Friday, 3. March 2023 by hmvh

It’s March 2023, and it’s been about one year since I started digitising my photo collection. What I hadn’t counted on was the amount of time that researching, naming, and sorting of the resultant scans would ultimately take. Continue reading →

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Photography: What’s the point?

Posted on Wednesday, 28. September 2022 by hmvh

The photo fails as a historic document. It has no journalistic value or artistic merit. It is neither aesthetic nor is there an underlying message. While there is no doubt that it meant something to whoever pressed the shutter at that moment, this information is now, some forty years later, lost. Continue reading →

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Mixed emotions: Papa was a rolling stone

Posted on Thursday, 26. May 2022 by hmvh

Anyone looking through old photographs knows to expect to see pictures of those who are no longer with us. This is normal. Not so in my case: A few weeks ago I was sorting through old photos of my father while, simultaneously and elsewhere, he lay dying a bitter and lonely man. Life is cruel. Continue reading →

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The obsolescence of family photo albums

Posted on Thursday, 31. March 2022 by hmvh

Ah, the family photo albums! Those archivists of activities, those precious nuggets of nostalgia, those reminders of bad haircuts and even worse fashion sense that were cause for much delight when the parents had visitors over and they all gushed over pictures of babies of strangers whom they’ve never met and places nobody barely remembers. Family photos cover the spectrum from braggery from the curator’s perspective to voyeurism on the viewer’s part. Continue reading →

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Summer 2018

Posted on Sunday, 2. September 2018 by hmvh

It’s not the best season to do this because you’d rather spend time outside enjoying the great weather instead of wiping off sweat dripping onto vinyl records. It’s been a hot, dry summer. Continue reading →

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My mother? Let me tell you about my mother…

Posted on Thursday, 30. November 2017 by hmvh

2017 is a year filled with anniversaries. 2017 happens to be the “incept date” of Leon Kowalski, the replicant in the original Blade Runner movie from 1982. This year is also the one where fans would finally be treated to the unnecessary sequel, Blade Runner 2049. Furthermore, 2017 marks the 20th anniversary of my mother’s passing.
Continue reading →

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